Improvement in electromagnetic-engine commutators



W. E. SAWYER. ELECTROMAGNETIC EN'GINE-COMMUTATORS.

No. 195,174. Patented Sept.11,1877.

Wfiflmssea I Inventor? UNITED STATES PATENT DFFIoE.

WILLIAM E. SAWYER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN ELECTRO-MAGNETlC-ENGINE COMMUTATORS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 195,174, dated September 11, 1877; application filed July 16,1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM EDWARD SAW- YER, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electro Magnetic Engine Oommutators, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description:

One of the greatest objections to the employment of electric engines has heretofore resided in the commutator or circuit-changer whereby the battery-current is let into and cut 0E from the magnets. The spark generated upon breaking the connection to a magnet has burned, and thereby impaired the conductivity of the contact-surfaces. The commutators of electric engines of any complexity have invariably been either too complicated for the comprehension of, and adjustment by, persons unskilled in their management, or have been too costly for the frequent renewal that has been found necessary in order to secure their continued successful operation.

My invention is designed to overcome these objections.

In the commutator of my invention, I pre for not to till the open spaces between contactsurfaces with an insulating material. To 0bviate the imperfect connection resulting from the burning of the contact-surfaces, Iprovide for their constant attrition, so that the dirt occasioned by the burning is worn away as fast as produced. In order that the contactpoints may be lasting, I provide for their being fed to a bearing as fast as they wear away; and in order that, while wearing away, the relative periods of make and break of circuit may be constant, I so taper the contact projections of my rotating disk that, while the disk is constantly reducing in diameter, the contact-surfaces bear the same proportion to the open spaces when the disk is worn nearly away that they bore at the outset, when the disk had a much greater diameter.

In the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this specification, Figure l is a top view of the toothed disks; Fig. 2, a top view of the contact-pieces; and Fig. 3, a side view of the commutator, showing its relation to the magnets and the battery-connections.

Although I have shown the disk as revolving and the contact points stationary, it is clear that I may reverse this order of things with equally good results.

I, J, and K are the magnets. L is a revolv-; ing barrel of armatures, such as described in;

pivoted at f, upon which are fixed three mev tallic pieces, D D D, one end of each of which is provided with an offset and set-screw, d, for holding the end of the magnet-wire 0. Attachable and detachable from these pieces D D D by screws 6 e, are bent arms 0 (J 0 which make connection with the disks A A A The piece E is caused to hold the contacts O O O to a bearing upon the surfaces; of the teeth a, a a by spiral spring g, whosei tension is adjusted by set-screw G in piece H.

It will be understood from the foregoing that when the point C is bearing upon a tooth of disk A the points 0 O are over the open spaces of disks A A so that a perfect contact is made between point 0 and disk A; that as the shaft further rotates point 0 bears upon a tooth of disk A, and points 0 and 0 are over the open spaces of disks A and A, and so on. The result of this construction and arrangement is that the contact of a point, 0, does not deteriorate as the point or a disk-tooth} wears away, but the point has a bearing upon; the disk-tooth so long as any part of it is; left. Further, that, all the points being sub-i jected to the same pressure, they wear awayi evenly, and that instead of the operation of; making contact being clattering and jarring, the action of each point, notwithstanding it passes from a tooth to an open space and from an open space to a tooth, is as though it were} bearing upon a perfectly smooth or plane surface. I

The connections to the battery F in Fig. 3 are from one pole to the disks, and from the other pole to one side of each of the three roar-m magnets. The other side of magnet J goes to contactiece C; of magnet I, to-contact C and of magnet K to contact 0 c, 0 and 0 representing the wires running to the magnets. The principles upon which electric engines operate are so well understood that I need only say that the three magnets I J K act upon the armature-barrel L in succession as the contactpoints 0 G O successively put the battery to them.

I do not confine myself to the employment of the commutator of my invention in electromagnetic engines solely; nor do I confine myself to any particular number of disks or contact-points. The disks may be insulated from each other and the magnet-wires connected to them, a single point, 0, broad enough to cover all the disks,- being used.

In an engine operated by a single magnet I would provide two disks-one insulated, and one merely serving to guide the contact-point for the other.

Having thus described my invention. what I claim as such, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In an electre-maguetic-eng'ine commutator, the combination, with the spri'ngholder E, of the contact-piece G attachable thereto, and removable therefrom when so worn as to be of no further use.

2'. In an electromagnetic-engine commutator, two or more contact-points connected to difi'erent magnets and caused to bear upon a rotating disk with equal pressure, by means of a spring or springs common to both or to all of such contact points, substantially as shown and described.

3. In an electromagnetic-engine commutator, the combination, with two or more parallel-toothed surfaces, of two or more contactpoints therefor, insulated from each other and held to a bearing thereon by a spring common to both or to all of such contactpoints, as and for the purposes specified.

WILLIAM EDWARD SAWYER.

Witnesses HIRAM S. MAXIM, JAs. G. SMITH. 

